Current Fortuner looks set to be replaced later this year after debuting in 2015. Image: Toyota
Reported back in 2021 as becoming a production reality the following the year, which subsequently never materialised, a single low-resolution image has been uncovered showing what is speculated to be a patent submission of the all-new third generation Toyota Fortuner.
India’s gaadiwaadi.com shows what it claims to be the all-new Toyota Fortuner, known in South America as the SW4, sporting a more rounded design similar to that of the previous generation Ford Everest. The image is, however, purely speculative and highly controversial if nothing else. But what it does do, is fuel the ongoing rumours that the all-new Toyota Fortuner could still be unveiled before the end of the year.
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Expectations are that the new model will be significantly different from the current model Toyota last updated in 2020, five years after its original world debut.
As has been widely reported, the Toyota Fortuner will join the Tacoma, Sequoia, Tundra, Land Cruiser 300 and Lexus LX in moving to the body-on-frame TNGA-F platform also destined for the Hilux, North American 4Runner and the incoming all-new Land Cruiser Prado.
On the power front, the only confirmed certainty, first mentioned as a rumour in 2021, is the presence of a diesel/electric powertrain underneath the bonnet in the guise of a mild-hybrid 2.8 GD-6 turbodiesel engine.
Officially approved by Toyota in May this year, and showed in a prototype Hilux at last month’s Safari Rally in Kenya, the 48-volt system will solely be available on models fitted with the six-speed automatic gearbox, although it remains unknown as to whether this could result in a slight power uptake from the standard 150kW/500Nm.
With Toyota’s focus on having all of its vehicles at least hybridised by 2025, the diesel could potentially be joined by further hybrid offerings consisting of the well-known 2.5-litre petrol and possibly even the turbocharged 2.4-litre i-Force Max that powers the Tacoma and Lexus RX.
A powered-up replacement for the Toyota Fortuner GR Sport, not available in South Africa, it also likely to happen, however, nothing at present suggests so.
For now, Toyota has not officially let the cat out of the bag. If the wraps are indeed taken off later this year, chances are the carmaker will start divulging information soon.
NOW READ: All-new Toyota Fortuner coming in 2022 with hybrid assistance
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